Bruce felt himself being pulled down along the sand. Something was holding his ankle down, pulling him closer towards the hazy presence below the view of his chin. When he finally stopped moving, a hand crept up at the edge of the legs of his shorts. It teased the cold skin there, running along the tender skin of Bruce’s inner thigh. Weakly, Bruce tried to bat the hand away.
“Awake, are you?” A voice mused. “You’re stronger than I thought.”
Bruce struggled to open his eyes. A pain around his head made him hiss. He felt tired and his whole body hurt. His memory was jumbled at best. The hand dug its nails into his skin, until Bruce worried it would break skin.
“You’re wasting my time. Don’t tell me I caught a boring human after all?”
With great effort, Bruce managed to pry his eyes open. It took him a moment to adjust, trying to peer into the dimming light around him. He took quick stock of himself. A beach, somewhere. Sunset was beginning. He had all his limbs, he wasn’t bleeding anywhere. But he wasn’t alone. Bruce rose up on his elbows.
“Hm, maybe I was wrong. You’re not as pretty as I initially thought,” The – person? – said. Bruce squinted.
A dark skinned man was propped up on his elbows down by Bruce’s thighs. He rested his chin onto the back of his hand. When he grinned, a sharp row of teeth peeked back. Then, when he swept his dark hair back, Bruce caught sight of elongated claws. Brown skin melted away into glinting silver.
“Still confused? Poor baby,” the man said. Behind him, a great tail swished. Bruce’s eyes widened. “Oh, oh! Did you finally get it? Come on, say it.”
Bruce glanced down, taking note of the mer’s other hand resting on his ankle. It was only cupping him, but Bruce was under no illusion of the casual way he was resting against him. Bruce met the creature’s eyes.
“The Lord of this harbor,” Bruce said. The grin he got back was terrifying; Even now he wanted to attribute the shiver that ran through him as scared. He seemed to have said the right thing. “I’m Bruce Wayne. Of Gotham.”
“Gotham,” the mer repeated. He sneered back into his toothy grin. “Yeah, I’ve heard of that. The water’s always running nasty there. Or that’s what the selkies there say anyway.”
The mer ran his thumb over the bone of Bruce’s ankle. “Why are you out here, Bruce Wayne?”
“To make an offering,” Bruce said. “To you.”
The mer hmm’d. Then he swished his great speckled tail again like a cat in thought. Bruce took the chance to sit up. He dared to draw his knees up and hunch over to rest his arms across them. Even after being half-drowned, Bruce’s mouth felt dry.
“You’re the only one who can give me what I need,” Bruce said, trying not to let his eyes drift from gold staring back at him.
“And what makes you think you have what I need?” The mer said. He touched his claw to the tip of Bruce’s chin. “There’s nothing stopping me from taking you back with me. I almost did already.”
Bruce’s heart hammered in his chest. He swallowed down its loud beating. “You won’t,” Bruce said assuredly. “There’s no challenge in that.”
“Oh no? Then what do you propose?”
“A fight,” Bruce said quickly before he could stop himself.
In all of Bruce’s studies, he’d come across the same fact: The Lord of the Harbor didn’t care for anything that wasn’t a challenge. Predictability would cost Bruce his life faster than his plan would.
Bruce licked his raw lip before continuing. “If I win, you’ll grant my request. You win, you’ll eat me.”
“You weren’t much of a fighter before.”
“You had the storm to help you. This time, it will be one to one. And we’ll be in your element.”
For a moment, the mer didn’t respond, only looked at him. When he did move, Bruce found himself moving towards him.The mer took his face into his hand. He bent his claw into Bruce’s mouth, pressing down against his tongue. Bruce licked his finger, tasting the slight tang of his own blood.
“You’re serious, aren’t you? You’d really let me eat you. Fight some stupid battle you may only slightly win. And all for what? A request you aren’t sure I’ll honor?”
“I know you will,” Bruce said around the mer’s claw. He tried not to gag as he leaned forward. “I can feel it.”
The mer withdrew his finger. He rose up, pushing his arms to lean on top of Bruce’s knees.
“I’ll need proof of your resolve. A taste of what you’re offering. You will give it to me.”
Bruce looked into the dark hollow of the mer’s mouth; the sharp layers of his teeth glinting back at him. This time when he shivered he didn’t lie to himself. Bruce leaned down, just shy of touching.
“You will agree to the terms?”
The mer’s tongue licked away the blood at the corner of his mouth. “Yeah,” The mer said, pushing forward again. Bruce turned just a little, dipping his eyes in mock-shyness when the mer almost growled in frustration.
“What do I call you? I want to know who might eat me.”
The mer took Bruce’s face in his hands again. He dug his fangs into Bruce’s lower lip, pulling at it until Bruce’s gasp turned into a groan. “Khoa,” the creature said. “Call me Khoa for now.”
Then Bruce felt those fangs settle around his mouth, and the creature’s long tongue push past his lips and surrendered. For now, anyway.
-
AN: Khoa is a leopard seal mer. There doesn’t appear to be seal species up around south east asia but i figure leopard seal suits him best regardless.
Inspired a bit by this Slade/Bruce fic: (x) [make sure you heed the warnings, its explicit]
